Backcountry Strings

More of those moraharpas...

2013-10-25T14:31:00.001+01:00

Out of hibernation early just in time to upload some pics of my latest moraharpas. 4 playing strings, two rows of keys, Wittner geared cello pegs, 405mm scale length with various tuning configurations...

These are spoken for, but if you are interested in commissioning one just email me direct at joelmerriner@hotmail.co.uk

Keyed fiddle pictures

2012-11-17T19:24:00.000+00:00

More photos of my keyed fiddle nyckelharpa-moraharpa hybrid, Since these photos were taken I've changed the tangents from simple wooden style to screw -in type to allow easy fine tuning

Keyed fiddle on the go

2012-08-22T19:44:00.001+01:00

More pics of the latest keyed fiddle, awaiting the last couple of coats of varnish, with tangents, bridge and tuning pegs to be carved next

Single row of keys but multiple tangents on each key as found in some older instruments.

Hole on the treble side of soundboard is for the through-the-heart style of bridge where the treble foot passes through to the back of instrument and acts as a sounpost. Something found in old crwths and similar instruments.

Harpa peg head in progress

2012-06-27T20:37:00.001+01:00

2 melody strings, 1 drone string, 10 sympathetics, much hole reaming to be done!

More Harpas

2012-06-27T20:16:00.000+01:00

Moraharpa number 1 is long since finished.

I was quite pleased with the way he turned out, small and compact, almost like a travel harpa or lightweight instrument for a younger player. Have been playing him for a few weeks and the sound is good, mellow but with some bite. However he was very much a combination of different aspects, a little bit of moraharpa here,(single row, multiple tangent per key)) a bit of nyckelharpa there (guitar tuners, sympathetics). Harpa number 2 which I have been working on for a while is based more solidly on a single style of instrument, namely the kontrabassharpa. There are 3 playing strings, 10 sympathetic strings on this guy, but no guitar tuners only pegs. Single row almost chromatic. Much more flowing shape. I'm also going for an all gut sound, so the resonance strings are going to be nylgut rather than steel... pictures to come

Moraharpa build pics

2012-03-17T20:19:00.002+00:00

Some pictures of my new moraharpa in progress... much planing, scraping and drilling to ensue

Moraharpa build underway

2012-03-13T19:32:00.000+00:00

After several months delay I finally have a prototype moraharpa, or scandanavian keyed fiddle growing on my workbench. It's a creature of my own design, inspired by the classic historical harpas but with a little twist of nyckelharpa thrown in for good measure. It's diatonic, 345mm scale length, so in the fiddle voice range, two playing strings (GD), one or two drone strings plus a number of sympathetic ringing strings.. One row of keys but several of the keys have sport two tangents allowing certain melodies to be played on two strings at once, a fifth apart.. Woods used include reclaimed pine, ash, birch, and mahogany.

Build progress photos to follow...

LOST: email account, one previous owner

2012-01-21T19:56:00.000+00:00

If anybody out there has been expecting an email from me recently and received no word, no sign, no smoke signal etc, my apologies as my primary email account - joelmerriner@hotmail.com has recently ceased to be. Several months ago the chaps at hotmail informed me the account had been compromised(?) and despite quite a few attempts by me to retrieve it they have as of last week blasted the account into deep space, along with all my contacts, addresses, FBI passwords and such like. If you want to contact me, or think I should have contacted you please email me at my new address - joelmerriner@hotmail.co.uk
Sorry again, that'll teach me to leave 4000 undeleted emails in my inbox.

Winter - is- a - coming...

2011-12-17T20:03:00.000+00:00

...well it's here actually, and with it come some new instruments, in various stages of build. One is complete bar final playing in - but can't be mentioned until after Christmas Day (photos to come then!) others are in the planning, drawing and gathering of materials stage. There's a much-postponed but finally-to-be built moraharpa, or keyed fiddle, diatonic tuning with four playing strings and possibly 8 or 12 sympathetic strings. Several nylon and wire strung zither-style lap harps, an acoustic lap steel, and another hardanger style fiddle. Any of those take your fancy, just drop me a line.

Keep a watch here for updates and pictures

For Sale - Fretless open back tenor travel banjo

2011-09-05T19:47:00.000+01:00

This is a short scale tenor banjo, with a scale length a smidge over 19 1/2 inches from nut to bridge. Tuned to Irish tenor tuning GDAE, or ADAE, GDAD etc. It's what I call my Hobo or Rambler, great for camping trips, playing on the beach, holidays or when you want a banjo that won't kill your back after 10 minutes playing.

The pot is an 8 inch Remo Fiberskyn hand drum,. Tension is really good in these, I find they work extremely well for small mountain banjo and travel banjo heads and are very light and portable. The fiberskyn head has the look of vellum and for decorative effect I've added brass tacks to give that old timey tackhead look without the drawbacks (humidity problems etc) I've also made a simple meranti wood tone ring to increase the power and volume. The peghead neck and dowel are all carved from hevea wood, a sustainable tropical hardwood with similar acoustic properties to ash or alder, in this instance reclaimed from a dining room table. The dowel is integral to the heel, and I have carved a small thumb groove near to the sweet spot where the neck meets the pot.

The fingerboard is red meranti and the tailpiece is hardwood. The nut is maple and the instrument has a nice hand rubbed oil finish. The bridge is 3 legged maple and ebony, and the tuners are reclaimed chrome guitar tuners. I normally fit fiddle pegs to a fretless but as this one is strung with steel strings, geared tuners were chosen for ease of tuning.

**Update** As an unusual experiment I've recently been playing this banjo lap style with a slide. Wasn't sure how it would sound but it works good! Tuned to GDGD it really rings well, has a clanging bluesy sound. Will try to get a vid clip online soon

This one's for sale -

Choice of set-ups - traditional set-up for irish tenor playing, or with raised nut for slide playing.

Email me at joelmerriner@hotmail.com for price details, any questions etc

Wood Top Mountain Banjo

2011-08-19T10:29:00.000+01:00

This is a short scale banjo, often refered to as a C scale, with a scale length of 19 and three quarter inches from nut to bridge. Standard tuning(with open G tuning as the reference) would be CGCEG, or the equivalent to a normal banjo capoed at the fifth fret.

The design has elements of the famous Proffit mountain banjo but with a few differences. The body is 8 inches wide and made up of three rings top, middle and bottom, but with the addition of a through dowel made of thick reclaimed ash. The top and middle rings are beech, and the bottom ring, or back plate is fashioned out of an old solid chessboard, with strips of oak and black walnut steam bent around the rim. The middle ring is bound in patterned leather, for no reason other than I liked the way it looked! (doesn't affect the sound)

The neck is made of reclaimed mahogany with a single ogee at the nominal fifth and seventh fret position. The fingerboard overlay is black walnut with a brass plate where the neck meets the pot. The heel is ash with patterned metal decoration and the peghead is beech, carved in a contemporary fiddle scroll style. Pegs are handcarved from oak for a rustic look.

The head is 6 inches wide and is made from AAA quality spruce, rather than skin, which gives a warm and mellow sound, still banjoey but with a hint of tenor guitar thrown in. With the spruce head a tone ring isn't neccessary. Bridge and nut are both maple. The bridge is 4/8th of an inch high, with the thickness of the spruce head adding an extra 1/8th inch to the bridge height. The strings are Aquila nylguts which are, bang for the buck, about the best strings available for fretless banjos.

The banjo has a lovely warm ringing sound - not too loud - won't crack the window frames, after all it's not a bluegrass cannon, but the higher tuning helps it cut through nicely. It copes with old time and country tunes well and also works great for celtic music. It's also light and easy to handle.

This instrument is now sold, feel feel to enquire if you want to commission something similar

Five String Medieval Fydell

2011-08-12T20:06:00.001+01:00

Here's a quick excerpt from a traditional tune entitled "Shepherds Rise" played on a five string medieval fydell or vielle built by myself back in the spring of this year. This instrument has a flat spruce top and flat three piece back of mahogany and black walnut. The ribs are steam bent from different strips of walnut and spruce which are layered to create the pattern on the bass side.

The neck and peg disc are beech and the fingerboard and tuning pegs are hand-carved from oak. The sound hole is cut into a tree design.

This fydell has a spruce sound post and bass bar with internal spruce bracing to ren-inforce the back. It's tuned CGDAE and has a very full and rich sound, ideal for droning dance melodies! In the video clip I play it with a simple willow bow made by myself.

This instrument is sold, but you can commission something similar, just email me at joelmerriner@hotmail.com

Hardanger Viola Pochette

2011-08-12T14:52:00.000+01:00

This particular instrument combines elements of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, or it's counterpart the swedish latfiol, within a unique body design, which resembles the old pochette or Dancing Master travel fiddle in shape. However I've deepened the body considerably to make the tone much bigger and without the nasal tone of the usual travel violin.

The scale length is the same as in a medium sized viola, 15 inches from nut to bridge. There are four playing strings, tuned as in a viola(CGDA), with the lowest C string tuned up one step to D giving a tuning across the board as DGDA. There are three sympathetic strings tuned AGD running in a hollow beneath the fingerboard and exiting at a specially adapted nut. Numerous tuning combinations are possible! The instrument has a long narrow body, which becomes gradually deeper nearer the endpin.

The shoulders are carved from solid beech, with a cutaway on the treble side, and contoured for an organic look, as is the pegbox which incorporates a very slight curve in the design. The neck and pegbox are beech, the back, sides and top of the instrument are all solid mahogany and the end piece is ash. The mahogany top is a slight departure from my usual spruce top, but works very nicely for this particular instrument, lending a dark tone with a lot of sustain, plus the grain and colour is beautiful. The top and back are also flat, as in a medieval vielle, rather than arched shape of a modern violin. The fingerboard is oak, and considerably flatter than a normal fiddle, around about a 60mm radius, as is the bridge. The two nuts are rosewood and oak, the end pins are mahogany and imitation bone. The bridge is handcarved from beech and the soundpost and bass bar are AAA grade spruce. The tailpiece has four fine tuners for the melody strings, the sympathetic strings are tuned at the pegs.

I used two tailpieces for this fiddle initially, the first a plain maple one I made myself and also a modern alloy one with integral fine tuners. The maple one was far superior in tone but the ease of tuning with the alloy won through when it came to selling. Next time I will make a hardwood one with fine tuners for melody and sympathetic strings. The tuning pegs are handcarved by myself from mahogany and oak. The C, G and D strings are all Thomastik Precision steel core strings and the A string is a Thomastik Superflexible. The sympathetic strings are plain steel 0.10 and 0.13 guage guitar strings.

The decoration is ink applied by dip pen, and the whole instrument has a simple but very attractive hand rubbed finish. I have added a little patina here and there to give the instrument a look of age, with some fading and tiny dips and nicks in particular to the back.

This instrument is sold, but you can commission a similar one by emailing me at joelmerriner@hotmail.com. Various design elements, wood choices, tunings are available. I also make this instrument in normal fiddle tuning GDAE.

Hawkwood Fydell - Medieval Hardanger Fiddle Hybrid

2011-08-12T14:15:00.000+01:00

I built this instrument in 2010 as the prototype for a range of drone fiddles I'd been planning for some time. It's design was a variant of the traditional medieval vielle with elements of the norwegian hardanger incorporated. It has a solid slightly arched spruce top, american walnut sides, a flat back made of oak and walnut and a beech neck and pegbox. The internal braces were spruce. The fingerboard and tailpiece were mahoghany and the tuning pegs hand carved from mahogany and oak. A number of the original medieval vielles came highly decorated with egg tempera paintings, so in keeping with this I added a small amount of hand painted illumination to this instrument in ink and oil paints. The whole instrument was finished with beeswax rubbed down for a traditional aged and worn appearance, with occasional nicks and marks in the wood added for character.

It has a 13inch scale length and three melody strings, usually tuned DAE as on the top three strings of a normal violin, or also DAD. These strings are all gut core for a traditional early sound, the D and A being Pirastro Hardanger strings, and the E being a plain gut Pirastro Chorda. Vielles often had extra bourdon or drone strings, usually running alongside the fingerboard, but on this instrument I made a slight departure and added two Hardanger fiddle style sympathetic strings which run under the fingerboard and over a specially adapted nut at the pegbox. These strings are plain steel, and usually tuned to AE or DA. They add an attractive ringing effect to the fiddle's sound, especially good for bagpipe tunes. To further aid drone playing the fingerboard and maple bridge have a flatter radius of 60 degrees instead of the usual 48 degrees on a normal violin. The fingerboard is also shorter as the instrument is mainly played in the first or second positions.

The instrument has a spruce sound post(not found in many original vielles but for volume and tone I chose to add one here) and a spruce bass bar. The bass bar is shorter than in a modern violin, which gives this instrument a raspier, more hollow low end.

The sound is a little different than a normal fiddle, but then it isn't a normal fiddle. It's primarily designed for droning trance like tunes, but you can play a range of irish, scottish and old time tunes on it and it handles them nicely. It can be played with a normal bow but because of the wider, flatter middle works very well with a baroque bow. I make my own simple bent stick bows from willow which works surprisingly well also.

This particular instrument is sold, but if you are interested you can a comission a similar one. Decoration is optional, just email me for details at joelmerriner@hotmail.com